


The case of dirk and todd's relationship

by everythingisconnected



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Bisexual Todd Brotzman, Coming Out, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotionally Repressed, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Holding Hands, M/M, Making Out, Sharing Clothes, farah ships it, so do amanda and tina
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-25
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-04-27 20:10:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14433168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everythingisconnected/pseuds/everythingisconnected
Summary: Cases never worked in Dirk’s favour. They always involved danger, death, and nothing that ever benefited him in any way. He’d get dragged through the universe’s metaphorical mud constantly.Maybe this was his reward. Finally, a case that worked in his favour.





	The case of dirk and todd's relationship

**Author's Note:**

> may or may not have stayed up til 4am finishing this in a fist fight with my writer's block
> 
> enjoy!! kudos and comments mean a lot to me!!

The first thing Todd noticed when he woke up was the pounding headache. 

He definitely shouldn't have had so much to drink last night. 

But the agency had received their first case in months, so obviously him, Dirk and Farah had celebrated. 

It'd ended up turning into a heated debate about which animal was the cutest, with Dirk and Todd winning against Farah. Apparently she had a thing against dogs ever since Lydia had been soul swapped with one. 

Then Dirk had brought all his jackets down from his apartment and had made Todd and Farah decide their favourite. Todd hadn't been able to decide; Dirk looked handsome as fuck - wait, good - in all of them. Farah decided it was the classic yellow one. 

The rest of the night was a blur. Todd's apartment had ended up even more wrecked than before though. There was stuff everywhere. 

Farah had left in the night but Todd remembered Dirk had stayed. He had vague memories of Dirk using his shoulder as a pillow at some point. But he seemed to have disappeared by morning. It wasn't really much of a surprise. 

He fumbled on his bedside table for his phone to see a text from Dirk. 

_Had a hunch. Went into town. Meet me there. - Dirk x_

Todd rolled his eyes. Dirk had gotten into a habit of either leaving a kiss or an entire row of heart emojis after his texts. It was probably just something he did when he texted anyone; Dirk wasn't exactly a normal guy. 

Todd figured he might as well leave now. God knows when Dirk had left; he could be in danger. The hunch was probably related to their latest case. 

Dragging himself out of bed, Todd trudged to the kitchen. After downing some headache and pararibulitis pills then finishing some breakfast, he threw on the nearest clothes to him which happened to be strewn across his sofa. 

He briskly jogged to the bus stop, waited a few minutes for the bus, and got on his way to see Dirk. 

Todd sighed, hopefully when he was with Dirk he'd feel less groggy. Maybe he overdid it last night. 

So much so that instead of his own denim jacket, he'd accidentally put on Dirk's blue jacket. 

His eyes widened. He couldn't go back now, the bus was already on its way. He'd already sent Dirk a text that he'd be there in a few minutes. The weather was cold, it's not like he could take it off. He didn't have a bag, or the money to buy anything else. 

This was so embarrassing. 

Dirk had sent him a text. 

_Outside Starbucks. Haven't found anything yet. Although I did see one man who looked suspicious… probably just his weird hat. - Dirk_

This time he'd left a row of heart emojis in the colours of a rainbow. Todd was getting used to it though. Dirk's texts always made him either smile or chuckle to himself. 

Todd started typing, trying to tell Dirk he'd accidentally put on his jacket, but kept backspacing it. Maybe he wouldn't notice. 

_Invited Farah. She'll be joining us soon. Look forward to seeing you :) - Dirk x_

Todd finally decided on a reply. 

_Bus just got here. Be there in a bit._

He stuffed his phone in his pocket and thanked the bus driver, making his way down the busy high street of Springsborough. Dirk was pretty easy to spot in his bright yellow jacket, leaning against the Starbucks window on his phone. 

The universe must've given him some sort of signal because as soon as Todd had spotted Dirk, Dirk's face had lit up and he was heading in his direction. Todd was greeted with a tight hug. 

“Todd, I've been waiting for you to show up,” Dirk grinned, pulling back. “This case is getting interesting already.” 

Todd raised an eyebrow. “You said you hadn't found anything.” 

“Exactly!” Dirk exclaimed, patting Todd's arm excitedly. “Great, isn't it?”

Todd rolled his eyes. “These kidnappings, they have to be connected, right? What was that bar they mentioned? Where it all started?” 

“Ah,” Dirk said. “I… have no idea. But I'm sure we'll find out. Wait Todd, is that my jacket?” 

Todd froze. This was the moment he'd been dreading. It didn't help his face had betrayed him and turned bright red. 

“Shit, it was a mistake, I put it on without thinking, I'll take it off right now -” 

Just as Todd was shrugging it off, Dirk interrupted him. “No, wait!”

Todd stopped, confused. 

Dirk smiled fondly. “Keep it on. It suits you.” 

Todd chuckled, shrugging it back on and running a hand across his face to hide his blush. “Uh, thanks?” 

Dirk looked up like he'd been snapped out of a trance consisting of staring at Todd. “Better find that bar!” 

-

_Last night_

Dirk was very confused.

But then again, when wasn’t he?

He didn’t have a clue what was going on most of the time in his chaotic life.

His head was spinning, probably from the alcohol Todd had given him. His only coherent thoughts were either to do with their new case or about Todd.

Somehow, he had a feeling that the new case was related to Todd. But he had no idea how. How could Todd be involved with several kidnappings in a bar? 

The night had involved him and Todd inadvertently agreeing that at some point in the future they’d adopt a dog together. Then there was the way Todd looked at him when he was showing off all his jackets. He’d only seen that look directed at Farah before, but not in a while.

Later on, he’d ended up cuddled into Todd’s side on the sofa, head pillowed on his shoulder. For some reason his alcohol-muddled brain seemed to be connecting all these events together, telling him they were related to the case. Of course they couldn’t be, none of what happened tonight had anything to do with kidnappings. Dirk decided it must be the alcohol, and drifted off to sleep. 

Only to be awoken hours later, lying on the sofa cushions instead of against Todd. Something was telling him he needed to leave right now, so he did.

-

They met up with Farah in a nearby café. Originally they were just gonna meet and leave, but for some reason Dirk felt that staying here for a chat and a bite to eat was vital to the case.

Maybe it was still the alcohol messing with his holistic abilities?

He never knew anymore.

They all sat in a booth, kind of like the one they were at before Dirk got taken back into Black Wing. Him and Todd on one couch, and Farah opposite them.

He loved hearing Farah talk about her crazy life now she was part of the agency. He never knew that her, Tina and Amanda had all met for a girls night at a pub around a week ago. And that those events didn’t usually appeal to Farah, but for some reason she’d bitten the bullet and gone anyway, and ended up having a great time. Amanda would tell her about her adventures with the Rowdy 3, and Tina - well she got up to all kinds of weird shit.

“Todd?” Farah said out of the blue after a long ramble. “Why are you wearing Dirk’s jacket?”

Dirk immediately looked away, trying to act casual. He couldn’t give away how happy it made him that, even if it was accidentally, Todd was wearing _his_ jacket. It gave him a weird fuzzy feeling in his stomach.

Meanwhile, Todd was a blushing and stuttering mess. “I, uh, was in a rush, and I guess I mistook it for my jacket?”

Farah scoffed. “Sure you did.”

Just as Todd opened his mouth to reply, a waiter came up to the table. “May I take your order?”

All of them ordered hot chocolate and a cookie each.

The waiter noted down their orders and stared for a moment at Dirk and Todd. “Sir can I just say that you and your boyfriend are very cute together? We don’t get your type around here often.”

“Wait, we’re not -” Todd began.

“He’s my assistant,” Dirk exclaimed, “friend. Assis-friend. Friend who’s an assistant. Good friend. Great friend actually, very perfect -”

“Dirk, you’re rambling,” Farah interrupted. 

“Yes yes, sorry,” Dirk babbled, blushing intensely and looking away. “What was the question?”

“We’re not a couple,” Todd added, but not very convincingly.

“Sorry, I just assumed -” the waiter said, looking embarrassed. “With the whole matching jackets thing going on, the looks, sitting so close… I must’ve misread things.”

“It’s fine,” both Dirk and Todd said at the same time, then gave each other a weird look.

“You guys just remind me of my brother and his boyfriend. Anyway, have a nice day, I’ll take your order.”

And he left just like that. The thing was, Dirk had seen that guy before. The one with the weird hat in the street. That had given him a strange feeling. Was he linked to the kidnappings?

Dirk was realising that none of these events gave him any information about the kidnappings. What else could they be connected to?

-

“So what was that all about?” Farah looked at them and raised an eyebrow.

Todd sighed. The day had barely started and it’d been a rollercoaster already. He should probably get used to this kind of life since he met Dirk.

“I don’t know,” he said. “What was he talking about? Looks? And I’m not sitting close to -”

Their legs were fucking pressed together, along with the entire sides of their bodies.

“Oh,” Todd’s eyes widened, and he shuffled an inch away. “I didn’t realise -”

“Sorry,” Dirk said, and Todd swore he sounded disappointed.

Farah was definitely smirking to herself. 

“I’ve seen the looks myself.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Dirk said, folding his arms across his chest and pouting. 

“Farah, I’m straight. I like women -” Todd insisted, but was interrupted again.

“Amanda told me,” Farah said. “You’ve been with guys before. It’s chill, I’m not completely straight either.”

Todd buried his head in his hands and groaned. This was getting more embarrassing for him by the minute. “Even if I was, uh, bisexual… Dirk isn’t -”

“I’m gay,” Dirk said casually, shocking both of them into silence.

“That’s great, Dirk,” Farah smiled. “There you go Todd.”

“Shit,” Todd blushed even more. “No - I mean that’s OK of course, I just, I don’t know -”

Luckily the waiter chose that moment to place their food and drinks on the table.

“Enjoy your meal!” he grinned. Thank god for the change of subject.

While they chatted and ate their food Todd continued to have an internal crisis. The last few days had been weird as hell, but in a different way than usual. He’d been feeling odd around Dirk recently. But in a good way. He thought. Maybe they had had a few prolonged stares, maybe they did sit too close together for a pair of platonic friends. Sure, maybe he did feel good wearing Dirk’s jacket. So what if every so often he zoned out while staring at Dirk’s lips?

Maybe he’d been feeling like this for a while but just hadn’t noticed it, or had it pointed out before.

Todd’s life really was one crisis after another.

-

They wandered round town for the rest of the afternoon, and still found nothing. Dirk was starting to get concerned; maybe his holistic abilities had stopped working? Or it could just be the wrong time for them to be at the place they needed to be. Whatever it was, he was becoming more bored by the minute.

Farah’s comments had made him self conscious every time he looked at Todd for longer than a few seconds. It was just… he had a really aesthetically pleasing face. Attractive even. Objectively… of course.

“Dirk, it’s getting late,” Todd said, gesturing to the gradual darkness surrounding them. “Maybe we should investigate more tomorrow?”

“One more shovel in the dirt, remember Todd?” Dirk tugged at the lapels of his own jacket enthusiastically. 

“Maybe Todd’s right -” Farah began.

“What’s that?” Dirk interrupted, pointing towards a building near the end of the alleyway they were in. 

“It’s usually called a bar, people go there to you know, drink, hang out...” Todd replied sarcastically, then paused. “Wait, is that _the_ bar? The one we’ve been looking for all day?”

“Let’s find out!” Dirk beamed, racing off down the street and leaving Todd and Farah trailing behind him.

This was definitely it. Finally, Dirk felt like he was getting somewhere. He pushed through the crowd of guys, and a few girls, lingering outside, and entered. 

There was music, weird lights and a lot of people either dancing, drinking around tables or chatting at the bar.

It kind of reminded him of the Sound Of Nothing concert, which wasn’t a very pleasant memory at all.

He immediately felt lost. How was he meant to find out anything about the kidnappings from this type of setting? But the universe always took him where he needed to be, so this must be the right place.

Dirk gawked at the sight of a couple making out in front of him. It seemed to be a pattern; he’d look around and see even more similar couples. They all had one thing in common: they consisted of either two men or two women.

Shit. Dirk knew exactly where he was.

-

“Did he- did he just disappear into a gay bar?” Todd glanced in the direction of the rainbow flag displayed in the window of the bar. “We’re meant to follow him? In _there_?”

“It must be important,” Farah said, her face showing no emotion. 

Todd was getting stressed out, he’d already had more than enough about his sexuality revealed to his two best friends today. He ended up sighing resolutely and following Farah inside.

He immediately spotted Dirk, who was chatting excitedly to a random guy.

“Well there’s Dirk,” Farah indicated in his direction. “Looks like he’s making himself at home.”

When the guy put an arm around Dirk’s shoulder and leaned right up into his personal space, Todd felt a jolt of protectiveness surge through him. No one was allowed to be that close to Dirk except him.

“Sorry, I’ll be right back,” Todd said to Farah before impulsively striding up to Dirk.

“Oh hi Todd, you made it!” Dirk grinned. “This is Ryan, he was so kind as to buy me a drink!”

Ryan was a well built guy with blond hair, and Todd immediately hated him even though he didn’t know a thing about him, other than that he was standing way too close to Dirk.

“He what!?” Todd snapped. “Dirk, shouldn’t we get back to the case?”

Dirk laughed. “But Ryan’s being so nice to me! Ryan, this is Todd. He’s my assistant.”

Ryan waved. “Hey Todd.”

Todd sighed, trying to hold back his irrational anger at the guy. “Hi,” he ground out.

“Well Todd, you’re a lucky guy to be the assistant of this hot piece of ass,” Ryan winked at Dirk, lowering his hand dangerously close to Dirk’s ass.

“I’m sorry, we’ve got to go, right now actually, haven’t we Dirk?” Todd was practically fuming at this point. He grabbed Dirk’s arm, pulling him out of Ryan’s grip. “Goodbye, _Ryan_.”

“What the hell, man!?” Ryan yelled as Todd pulled Dirk a safe distance away from him.

“Todd, are you OK?” Dirk frowned, leaning in closer to inspect Todd’s face. “What was that all about?”

“He was an asshole!” Todd said. “He was trying to hit on you! Probably take you home and use you for sex.”

“Excuse me?” Dirk raised an eyebrow in confusion. 

“This is a gay bar! That’s what people here do,” Todd sighed, not realising he had a tight grip on one of Dirk’s hands. 

“Quite a generalisation there, Todd,” Dirk rolled his eyes. “I can handle myself perfectly fine.”

“You- I was-” Todd struggled to find words. Of course Dirk could handle himself. He’d probably been with guys before. He _had_ said he was gay. So why was Todd so angry that a guy had shown interest in him?

Luckily Farah chose that moment to interrupt them.

“Guys, what’s going on?” she asked. 

“Nothing!” Todd said way too quickly, turning around to stand next to Dirk and face Farah. They were still holding hands. Of course Farah noticed, eyes drifting for a second then raising an eyebrow.

“OK, sure,” she chuckled to herself. “Should I leave you to it? I’ll investigate over there.”

They both nodded, and Farah shot them a smile before walking off while tapping away at her phone.

“Maybe we should sit down,” Todd suggested, gesturing to an empty table. “The universe will tell us what we need to do, right?”

“Sure, if putting it that way helps you sleep at night,” Dirk quipped. They both sat down next to each other at the table.

Todd lay his head in his hands and sighed, looking around. “We’ve found nothing. Maybe the bar, but nothing to do with the kidnappings. Are you sure we’re not wasting our time?”

“No, there’s definitely something,” Dirk was staring off into the distance, deep in thought. “I’m starting to think that maybe the kidnappings have nothing to do with the case at all, actually.”

“That can’t be right,” Todd frowned. “They _are_ the case!”

“It’s something else,” Dirk whipped around to face Todd. “And it’s related to _you_ , Todd.”

“Me?” Todd exclaimed. “I’m not a kidnapper!”

“I never said you were, keep up,” Dirk shook his head. “How are you related to this bar? There has to be something I’m missing, how am I meant to connect it all when I have _nothing_ to connect?!”

“Dirk, Dirk, calm down,” Todd placed his hands on Dirk’s shoulders and looked into his eyes. “You’re gonna figure this out like you always do, OK?”

Dirk exhaled shakily, staring down at his lap and nodding.

-

When Dirk looked up again into Todd’s panicked eyes, he knew.

Well he didn’t know completely.

He definitely knew something.

“Todd,” he said slowly. “Why did you really not want me to talk to Ryan?”

Todd cleared his throat, breaking eye contact. “He was being an asshole, I told you, he was-”

Dirk raised an eyebrow and Todd turned to face him again, sighing and moving his hands into his lap. “Fine, I guess I was kind of jealous. It doesn’t matter.”

Dirk’s heart skipped a beat. Maybe things were starting to connect. “Jealous of… what?”

“Nothing, I-” Todd sighed again, burying his face in his hands. “He was too close to you, OK?”

Dirk moved Todd’s hands from his face, taking them both in his own. “Why did that bother you?”

“It didn’t,” Todd stuttered out. “It shouldn’t- _shit_.”

Dirk slowly stroked his thumbs over Todd’s fingers, trying to calm him down. Maybe it was also an attempt to calm himself down too; he was internally freaking out quite a lot right now.

“The man at the café thought we were a couple,” Dirk recounted. “Bloody hell, even Farah thinks we are. You wearing my jacket. Last night you were giving me this _look_ when I showed you all my jackets, you let me sleep on you, you _never_ talk about what happened with Farah anymore-”

Dirk turned to make eye contact with Todd again, full on beaming. “It’s all connected, Todd.”

Todd’s grip on Dirk’s hands had tightened significantly. He was definitely blushing.

They were both silent for a moment.

“Dirk…” Todd began, looking away again. “Maybe I do like you. As- I don’t know, more than a friend. Are you seriously telling me that was the case all along?”

Dirk had to turn away too, smiling to himself. Todd liked him back. Todd _liked_ him, romantically. Of course he’d thought about it before, but the universe never usually gave him nice things so he’d locked it away in the back of his mind.

“I think it was, Todd,” Dirk said, shifting closer a little. Finally, Todd turned to face him.

“What happens now?” Todd asked, closing the gap so their foreheads were pressed together.

Dirk swallowed hard. “Well, I’ve never done this before-”

Just as Todd had processed what Dirk meant, he was already kissing him. One hand left Todd’s and held his chin just right. Dirk couldn’t believe this was happening; he was kissing Todd, and Todd was kissing him back. He was mostly copying what Todd was doing, because he was doing it really bloody well. Todd had soft lips and the scratch of stubble against his cheek was electrifying. Dirk couldn’t stop kissing him, over and over, his chest feeling like it was going to burst from affection.

When they finally pulled back, both gasping for breath, Dirk smirked.

“Solved it!”

-

For someone who apparently had never kissed anyone before, Dirk was surprisingly good at it.

Todd was so overwhelmed right now. It’d been years since he’d kissed a guy, let alone someone who he liked as much as Dirk. 

“Holy shit,” he exhaled, still staring into Dirk’s eyes. Seconds later and they were kissing again. Todd’s hand found its way into Dirk’s hair, pulling them closer together. He nibbled at Dirk’s bottom lip, swiping over it with his tongue and slipping it past his parted lips into his willing mouth.

Dirk was making these beautiful little gasping sounds, and Todd was loving every second. 

Then someone next to them cleared their throat.

Both had to pull apart, disappointment clear on their faces. Farah was standing above them, one hand on her hip and phone in the other.

“Farah!” Dirk grinned. “Great to see you! We solved the case!”

Farah chuckled to herself. “I noticed.”

“Wait, you knew?” Todd said. “How?”

“It was never a real case,” Farah pulled up a chair opposite them and smirked. “Me, Tina and Amanda made up the kidnappings.”

“You did what?” Dirk turned to face her. 

“It was Amanda’s idea,” Farah said. “I didn’t want to get involved at first.”

“Amanda? Are you kidding me?” Todd sighed. “Of course it had to be her.”

“Why would you invent a case?” Dirk wondered, staring cluelessly at Farah.

“Amanda said Todd needed to get his head out of his ass and admit he liked Dirk, Tina agreed, and said I should take you both to a gay bar,” Farah explained. “I knew the only way to do that was to invent a case for the agency involving one.”

“You invented a case, which created another case,” Dirk said excitedly. “They’re connected!”

“That sounds like Amanda,” Todd shook his head. 

“It worked though,” Farah grinned. “I’ve been texting them updates all day.”

“Oh god,” Todd buried his face in his hands in embarrassment. “Why, Farah?”

“She did help us solve the case,” Dirk put a hand on Todd’s knee. “I think we should be thankful.”

Todd groaned, removing his hands. “I guess we should.”

“Right, I’m gonna head back. Don’t enjoy yourselves too much,” Farah smirked again, standing up and heading away.

Dirk and Todd turned to face each other again.

“I can’t believe they did that!” Todd said. 

Dirk was giving him the most adoring look right now. Maybe Farah and that waiter did have a point about their looks.

“I’m rather glad they did, actually.” The corner of Dirk’s mouth twitched upwards.

Todd chuckled, moving a hand up to cup Dirk’s cheek. “Me too.”

Once again their lips connected.

-

Cases never worked in Dirk’s favour. They always involved danger, death, and nothing that ever benefited him in any way. He’d get dragged through the universe’s metaphorical mud constantly.

Maybe this was his reward. Finally, a case that worked in his favour.

Dirk literally couldn’t stop smiling as he lay next to his new boyfriend in bed. They were cuddled close and tired from an evening involving lots of hugging, hand holding, and making out. Things that Dirk didn’t think he’d get to experience with the kind of life he had.

But the universe had given him this incredible man, and he definitely wasn’t complaining.


End file.
